Review:
Reviewed by David Barnes
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I have been sent 107 British Infantry to review (I don't see any Scots). I will list them and comment on some of them. Redoubts earliest releases were Napoleonic Peninsular figures, if I remember correctly, and it seems they have decided to create more diverse characters and poses plus tattered uniforms and misshapen shakoes to give the "campaign look". Also there are numerous head and shako variants to give even more variety. A different designer to the first set. British Line InfantryOrdinary numbers have the stovepipe shako, figures with a 'b' after the number have a Belgic shako. BR1 Line infantry advancing. Musket at 45°.
Flank Company Infantry Grenadier or Light of Line Battalions.
Officers, Ensigns, Sergeants and Musicians of the line.BR18 Line officer standing with drawn sword, turned up trousers, battered stovepipe shako. Bullet holed actually. Floppy neck cloth, sash, one epaulette. BR19 Line officer advancing sword on shoulder, Belgic shako. His overalls clipped beneath his instep. BR20 Line officer standing sword drawn, stovepipe, boots. Must have pinched a dragoon's boots. Two epaulettes and a clubbed queue. BR21 Line officer in greatcoat, covered shako, sword drawn. Turned up trousers. Holding the hilt in his right hand and blade in his left. Collar turned up. BR22 Line officer advancing sword drawn, bicorne. One epaulette, breeches, long woolly sox, splatter-dashes. Gaunt face - an old lieutenant. BR23 Line officer, pistol, bicorne. Water bottle on right hip, sword drawn. Short barrelled pocket pistol. Leathered trousers. BR24 Ensign standing, holding standard, wearing stovepipe. Well modelled flag draped over his shoulder. BR24b Ditto. Belgic shako. BR25 Ensign advancing with standard pole (supply own fly) wearing stovepipe. Standard pole a bit long - take care. BR25b Ditto. Belgic. BR26 Ditto. Bicorne. BR27 Line sergeant with half pike, stovepipe, pointing. "That way! You Bs!" BR27b Ditto, Belgic. BR28 Line drummer advancing, stovepipe. BR28b Ditto. Belgic. Lots of lace. Both need their rather lumpy sword scabbards filing down. BR29 Line drummer boy standing, bearskin cap. More good detail. BR30 Fifer in stovepipe playing fife. File case on his right hip. BR30b Ditto. Belgic. Better head position than plain number. Light InfantryTroops trained to fight in line or in loose skirmishing formation. Usually in more active and aggressive poses than the light troops. [I was in the old 53rd/85th - i.e. 4th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry for a time] Bligny day is 6th June.
Rifles - 60th and 95th Foot. Famous sharpshooters - one of the 95th Regiment's sayings, "First into battle and the last out of it - the Bloody Fighting 95th!!", and they weren't using blasphemy. They had no colours, they wore an almost black green uniform and were expert shots with their Baker rifles, which far out-ranged the French or their compatriots muskets. They learned to use every scrap of cover and load lying down. They also had to learn a system of orders relayed on their officers' whistles. The only other clean thing about them were their rifles. [Read "Death to the French", an excellent novel by CS Forester (of Hornblower fame) about a rifleman cut off from his unit and his struggles in the Peninsula to be reunited with them.]
Two "Heroic" figures from the PX rangePX15 "Captain Sharpe", with sword and pistol. Sean Bean, swashing his buckle with a pronounced N. English accent. Straight sword and short barrelled pistol. Knife on his left hip behind his sword scabbard. Looks like Sean Bean actually. PX16 "Sergeant Harper". Advancing and firing volley gun. Also looks like the actor who portrays the Sgt on TV. The volley gun was produced for the Royal Navy with seven barrels - for clearing quarter-decks or to assist boarding parties. Only a couple of hundred were ever made. The figure actually doesn't have his finger on the trigger. Now finally Fusiliers Line troops in bearskins were issued with a lighter type of musket called a fusil. Thought of themselves as élite troops. The rest of the infantry often called them the "Few silliers".)
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